A former lobbyist and former City Hall official was sentenced on Monday, November 4, to six months of house arrest for conspiring with The now imprisoned former councilor José Huizar in a bribery scheme.

Morrie Goldman was also ordered to pay a $60,000 fine and serve three years of federal probation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Goldman pleaded guilty in September 2020 to felony conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services mail fraud in the government’s investigation into corruption at City Hall.

Although the charge carries a possible sentence of up to five years behind bars, Goldman received the non-prison sentence as a result of his cooperation in the investigation, court documents show.

Goldman was a lobbyist for a company that had a pending development project in the city’s Arts District. He was one of several people who established two political action committees, one of which purportedly supported a variety of causes, but was actually created to primarily benefit the City Council campaign of Huizar’s wife, who planned to run for the city council seat. council of her husband, according to federal prosecutors.

If chosen, the unnamed relative would have helped Huizar and his associates “maintain a political stronghold in the city,” court documents state.

Goldman’s lawyer, Steve Meister, said at the time of the guilty plea that his client “allowed himself to become part of the orbit of a very corrupt man.”

“By cooperating with the government’s investigation, Morrie is regaining the moral ground he ceded to José Huizar, and my client will do everything he legally can, for as long as necessary, to make things right,” Meister said. “It’s a warning about how even for a person of integrity and a clean record, like Morrie Goldman, all this can happen.”

In his plea agreement, Goldman admitted that in September 2018, he agreed with Huizar and a company executive that the developer would contribute $50,000 to a PAC established to support Huizar’s wife’s campaign. In exchange, Huizar would vote against a union appeal against the company’s project in the Planning and Territorial Organization Committee, which he chaired at the time.

The court documents also describe how Goldman obtained commitments from the company to contribute to the PACs, at Huizar’s request, before September 2018.

Goldman was the sixth defendant charged as a result of Operation “Casino Loyale,” the FBI’s investigation into corruption at Los Angeles City Hall.

Before working as a lobbyist, Goldman served as chief of staff to former Los Angeles City Council members Hal Bernson and Mike Hernandez.

On Tuesday, real estate development consultant George Chiang will be sentenced for his role in the pay-for-play scheme at City Hall tied to Huizar’s approval of large construction projects in downtown Los Angeles. Chiang pleaded guilty in June 2020 to a federal charge of conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) statute.

Huizar is now serving a 13-year prison sentence for accepting bribes from downtown developers and cheating on his taxes. He pleaded guilty in January 2023 to conspiracy to violate the RICO Act and tax evasion.

Huizar represented the city center and was chairman of the Land Use Planning and Management Committee, the powerful panel that reviews the city’s largest development projects. Evidence showed that he monetized his position and leveraged his political influence to obtain more than $1.5 million in cash bribes, gambling chips, luxury trips, political contributions, prostitutes, extravagant meals, services, concerts and other gifts.

Huizar’s co-defendant, former Los Angeles Vice Mayor Raymond Chan, was sentenced last month to 12 years in federal prison for acting as a middleman in Huizar’s bribery scheme.

Chan was convicted in March by a Los Angeles federal court jury of a dozen felonies: one count of conspiracy to violate the RICO Act, seven counts of honest services wire fraud, three counts of bribery and one count of making false statements to a federal government agency.

Members and associates of the scheme included lobbyists, consultants and other city officials and employees, who sought to enrich themselves personally and their families and associates in exchange for official acts. Along with Chiang and Goldman, participants included Huizar’s former special assistant George Esparza and political fundraiser Justin Jangwoo Kim, among others. Each pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the government investigation.

Esparza is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in downtown Los Angeles, and Kim will be sentenced Nov. 15.

Originally Posted: November 4, 2024 at 7:42 am PST